HOUSTON — Defence attorneys are claiming that court-appointed prosecutors have financial incentives to seek the death penalty against a Jordanian-born man accused in two slayings that authorities allege is driven by his daughter’s decision to marry a Christian.

Ali Irsan’s defence team is seeking to remove pro tem prosecutors from the high-profile Houston case before the trial later this month, the Houston Chronicle reported . Irsan’s lawyers, Allen Tanner and Rudy Duarte, filed a motion this April requesting prosecutors’ dismissal.

Irsan is facing a capital murder charge in the 2012 shooting death of an Iranian women’s rights activist, Gelareh Bagherzadeh. Police allege that Irsan, his wife and his son carried out the killing of Bagherzadeh, 30, near her parents’ home in Houston.